


Left Alone

by Tallihensia



Series: Not A Villain [5]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Drama, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-11
Updated: 2011-12-11
Packaged: 2017-10-27 04:39:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/291714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallihensia/pseuds/Tallihensia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Clark is called away on JL business, Conner rusticates in Smallville, learning a bit more of Clark and Lex's history.  However, something from Metropolis follows him there and Conner calls Lex for help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Left Alone

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** Only mine in my dreams. ^^ This story was written for free entertainment purposes only and may not be reproduced for profit or altered without permission.
> 
>  **Warnings:** Will need kleenexs at end of the fic (seriously, I did). (No, nobody dies, just past angst stuff coming out.)
> 
>  **Spoilers:** General Smallville and comic stuff.
> 
>  **Notes:** 5th in the Conner series. Follows literally immediately after Behind the Masks
> 
> Note - I'm not only mucking with Smallville lines (as per earlier notes), I'm also changing up JL ones, mixing and matching to meet my needs. For instance, in this universe, Barry Allen is the Flash, and Bart is his grand-nephew (Wally is out of the loop) (closer to Kon's age than Clark's). Last real Smallville season used is mid-season three, parts of the next few are incorporated selectively. Some of the Smallville changes are no Lex/Lana, no senatorship stuff, no Zod, and not so much Jor-El. No illuminati stuff. (Pardon me, Veritas.)

## Left Alone

 

"Oh my God! Batman laughed at me!" Kon paced across the room.

Tim and Clark looked at each other with identical long-suffering expressions. Conner hadn't stopped since they'd all gotten back to the apartment, which was a few hours after Bruce had finally left Metropolis. Up until that point, Conner had been suffering in silence, but now that they were all together, it was the main thought on his mind. Kon knew the others didn't care, not really, but Conner couldn't help it. He'd never live it down. Batman had laughed at him.

"If it helps," Tim offered, "It was Bruce laughing, not Batman."

Conner stopped and stared at Tim in disbelief.

"Seriously. I've spent a lot of time with both, and Bruce is really different than Batman. He laughs more and can be fun to be with. Batman never laughs. Well, not with humor. It's scary when Batman smiles. When he's just being Bruce, though, he's more relaxed."

"He's the same person," Clark remarked.

Tim raised an eyebrow and Conner could see the Batman in the eyebrow.

Clark shrugged, not exactly conceding the point, but not willing to argue it.

"It really doesn't help," Kon muttered and started pacing again. Batman. Bruce. "He laughed at me." Conner was never going to live it down, not ever.

"He was laughing at Luthor's joke," Tim sighed, "not you."

"How could Lex do that to me?" Conner wailed.

Clark shrugged, "He was making a point."

Conner flopped onto the couch in utter despair. "Yeah. Not to listen at doors. He's still pissed at the first time."

That pronouncement made Clark grin. "Are you kidding? Eavesdropping's just another tool in Lex's daily work." He glanced out the window, vaguely in LexCorp direction. "The point was not to automatically _believe_ everything you overhear. Just because they don't know you're listening doesn't make what you hear the truth."

With a blink, Conner sat up and stared at his dad. That hadn't even occurred to him.

"Your fly wasn't _really_ unzipped, was it?"

"No..." It was true, it was tempting to think that what people were saying was real. But they were talking to other people, and people lied to each other. "Batman still laughed at me." Conner flopped back again.

Clark and Tim sighed in unison.

Then Clark's head whipped around to stare at the wall. There was a second of utter stillness before Clark was gone. Wind whirled through the room and the curtains on the window dragged through the opening, shredding on the ends, showing Clark's passage.

"Kon?" Tim's voice was quiet, but prepared, ready for action if action was needed.

"I don't know," Kon admitted. Clark had been so fast. Conner was just as fast, or he'd thought he was, but he'd barely seen his dad leaving. He didn't know where Clark had gone, or what had caught his attention. However, Conner thought he might be able to track him. He remembered the demonstration in Casablanca when Clark had extended his senses all the way to Metropolis. Conner could do that too, if he tried. He thought.

Shutting his eyes, Conner listened for Clark. He knew Clark's heartbeat, his breathing, the little hitches when he was worried. Every night as he tried to sleep, Conner listened to Clark. The sound of Clark's heart was reassuring as Conner slept. Now he reached for it, trying to find that note that he lived by.

There. Rapid and thundering. Breathing harsh. A call to another. Conner opened his eyes to ignore everything between them and to see only where Clark was. A flash of plumbing, buildings, dirt and rocks even as his vision stretched out along the connection that his hearing had made and tried to look through the world until Kon could see. He'd never done this before and he shoved the pain in his head away. It wasn't important now, what was, was---

"Flash. It's Flash." Red on the red suit, a limp stillness that normally dashed all around, never still. Conner gulped as Clark flew carefully with the other hero in his arms, using the cape to shield them both from fiery weapons.

"What the heck _are_ they?" Using the weapons were... something. Conner had never seen anything like them. Inhuman, that was for certain. And hordes of them. Central City was under attack.

"Kon?" Tim's voice came though as a background noise, but it was enough to remind Conner that he could do something beside just watch.

"We have to go help!" Conner pulled back his vision and attention and ignored the sudden migraine he'd gotten from straining so hard.

Tim started to nod, yet right then their Justice League communicators went off. They activated them, read their instructions, and then looked at each other in frustration and worry. All the adult JL members had been called to Central City, and the junior league members were to monitor their cities for trouble while the adults were gone. It was understandable, but horribly frustrating when they wanted to go and help themselves. Criminals, though, had a tendency to take advantage when heroes were gone. This was the more practical solution.

"I have to get back to Gotham," Tim glanced at the window, hesitating. He'd ridden the bike over, however it was obvious that he was concerned at how long it would take him to get back with it.

"I'll take you," Conner offered. Flying would be quicker and after Tim was dropped off, Conner could get back to Metropolis without any noticeable loss of time. "Did you want to suit up?"

"Yeah, that'd be better." Tim accepted, quickly changing into the shaded grey suit he'd used for practice. At Conner's raised eyebrow, Tim managed as much of a shrug as he could while pulling clothes on. "If I wear the Robin suit, criminals will look for Batman. With this one... they won't know that Batman isn't around; I'm just another anonymous vigilante in this."

Good point. Conner wouldn't have as much of a problem, but Gotham was generally a nastier city than Metropolis. Superman's presence kept a lot of the general villains out, choosing easier targets for their villainy. Carefully gathering Tim in his arms, Conner flew as quickly as was practical when carrying somebody. Tim's suit helped shield him from the elements and Conner flew just a bit faster.

In Gotham, Tim pointed out a rooftop that didn't look any different than any other. Conner dropped him off and hesitated, hating to leave Tim by himself, but knowing he had to get back. Heroing wasn't just about going in and fighting the fight, but it was also about responsibility and following directions, even when you didn't want to. He hated this part of it. He liked the saving people, the beating the enemies up, the helping and doing right. But the discipline sucked.

... ... ...

Three days later, the invaders were out of Central City and the Justice League was holding a meeting. Conner sat next to Plastic Man, reminded every time he looked over of his normal seatmate, the Flash, still in critical condition at the hospital.

The mood was somber and worried. Besides the Flash, twelve other heroes had been incapacitated and numerous citizens killed and wounded.

Batman started the official meeting, summarizing the events as they'd happened.

"We were able to force the Ylians back through their dimensional gate to their world. However, the seal is on their end and we cannot prevent them from returning if they so desire."

Everybody swiveled their heads to look at Doctor Fate.

Fate shook his head. "The door was opened by technology, not magic nor faith, and as such, can only be closed by technology. None of my powers will help here." The other magicians in the group nodded in agreement.

Batman returned to his lecture. "The Ylians are fighting a war on their planet with another race who are taking over the solar system. The Ylians are losing. Their only recourse to survive is to cross over to another world. Though they picked Earth as their target, they don't care about us as a people, they only see a planet they can survive on. They studied us and presumably other potential targets for months and never once made overtures to us. They have been at war for generations and peace is only a theoretical subject to them."

"So they came over fighting," Diana spoke, not quite a question.

Batman nodded. "Even if they had asked for refuge, their numbers would make it hard for us to take them in."

Green Lantern stirred. "The Lanterns, through me, offered them a new world if they would leave Earth alone. The Ylians refused."

The form of the refusal had put Green Lantern in the hospital for two days. He'd only been out of it for an hour. The Ylians fought by technology, yet their technology was the type that could more than match any individual League member.

"We have to close down their gate," Superman said, his back straight, his voice firm.

His eyes, when they met Kon's, were torn.

Kon nodded, trying to be brave. They had talked. And this too, was a part of super-heroing. But he'd had a father for so short a time...

"Superman, Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter will go through the gate to their world, find the controls on their end, and destroy the device and any others, making sure that they cannot come through to Earth again." Wonder Woman made the official pronouncement, as she, Batman, and Superman stood in front of the assembled Justice League and did what heroes had to do.

"I will come as well," Hawkgirl said. Beside her, Hawkman stirred but didn't say anything.

"Shayera," Wonder Woman started, but was cut off.

"After the gate is destroyed, the only way back is through outer space," Hawkgirl said bluntly, causing a ripple of murmurs from those JL members who hadn't followed the logic to that point yet. "While the Lantern Corps will help, and while Superman has contacts outside Earth, Katar and I are the only two intergalactic agents currently with the League. We know outer space, we know over eighty different languages and fourteen pro-languages, and we can negotiate where the Corps do not reach. To get back to Earth, from where you know not where you go, you need one of us. I will go."

Wonder Woman hesitated, but Superman nodded. "Your knowledge will be welcome, Shayera."

In his seat, Conner sank down a little lower, yet it was a feeling of relief. There was no guarantee that the other side of the gate would even come out in their same universe. Let alone that the strike team would be able to make it off the planet. The three initially chosen could all survive in space or any type of environment without protection. Unless they were on a red sun planet. Or a yellow sand desert, or a flaming gas ball. Shayera needed protection, yet she was also correct that the three would need her. Conner felt better that she'd volunteered. And if Hawkman was staying... they both felt there was a good chance she would return.

After the meeting, Superman came to Kon and they stood there together for a long moment, just looking at each other. They'd said their goodbyes already, and yet, it hadn't been a final parting then. Just a postponement until this moment.

Conner lifted his head, straightening his face. "Give 'em hell, Dad."

Clark's smile flashed brightly, his pride and affection for Conner evident. "I will," he promised. "I love you." He reached to pull Kon into a long hug, and then he was gone.

... ... ...

At home, Conner despondently packed his suitcase and the essentials for the cats. The strike team had left, they would be successful, and Earth would be safe from the Ylians. Conner would see Clark again... someday. It could be next week, it could be next month, it could be next year. The team wouldn't know how to get back until they got to where they were going, and in the meantime, Conner could only wait. Wonder Woman would take care of Metropolis, and Conner got to go to Smallville. He'd fly back into Metropolis to make the rounds as Superboy, but Conner Kent was going to be living with his grandmother while his dad was on an overseas assignment.

He couldn't hear Clark's heartbeat.

Abruptly, Conner dropped the shirt he was holding and picked up the phone, his fingers dialing before his mind caught up to what he was doing.

"Kon?" The familiar rich voice layered in concern and a question of help.

"Dad Two..." Conner broke down and started to cry.

... ... ...

Fifteen minutes later, Conner was still crying, but now he was doing it held in sturdy, comforting arms. Lex didn't hold Conner as tightly as Clark did, but his loose grasp was every bit as protective.

Lex had talked to Conner the whole way over, dropping God only knew what to rush out to him, giving him reassurances, filling him in on all the details of the Ylians that Conner already knew (and some he hadn't), and telling him Superman could survive anything, that Clark would be back.

Conner had heard it all, but he didn't believe it yet, not inside his heart. He had seen too many of his siblings die -- had killed too many of them himself -- to truly believe that Clark was the exception to the rule. He'd had Clark for too short a time. He didn't want to lose his dad yet. Not ever, really. But this was too soon. He couldn't hear a heartbeat and his anchor was gone.

"Clark will survive and will make it back," Lex's reassurance rolled over Conner.

"How do you _know_?!" Conner wailed.

"Because that's what he _does_ ," Lex pulled Conner in closer. "He survives. He sometimes dies for awhile, but he comes back because it's Clark. It's Clark and he can't bear to leave anybody behind so he always comes back. Not for his own sake, but for others. For Lois, for Chloe, for Bruce... and now most especially for you. Don't even think for a moment that he would consider leaving you."

"But he did leave," Conner whispered into Lex's shirt.

"And you told him to go."

Conner had, but he hadn't really _known_ what it would be like to be left behind until it had happened, until Clark was gone and Conner was still here. Brave face, Superman's son, doing what superheroes do and making sacrifices for others. But it hurt.

"Clark is out there saving the world, not for the world, but for you. For Lois. For his mom, for his friends. Clark didn't ever want to be anything other than normal, but when it comes to his friends, he steps out there. Abstract thoughts aren't his thing; Clark has to have certainties, and for him, you're it. He'll stop the invasion, to save you, and he'll come back, because he knows you need him."

Even though Kon was wrapped up in his own misery, as Lex talked about the people that Clark would save, Conner couldn't help but notice a certain something missing. Lex didn't believe he was one of the people that Clark would come back for, and that was just wrong. Wrong, sad, and in some indefinable way, the thing that made it click for Conner. Clark would make it back, because there was just too much left that needed doing. It was an impossible thing, that Clark wouldn't make it back. Clark would come home to Kon, and to Lex, because they needed to be together and there wasn't any way they wouldn't be. Alien invasions and a trip across the universe were nothing compared to what still lay in front of them to become a family.

With a final sniffle, Conner turned his thoughts from his misery and his loneliness to thinking about Lex. Intellectually, Kon knew that Clark had died before, crushed down by enemies that could have destroyed the world, brought back through his alien physiology and some devoted friends. Behind Lex's words was past pain and a completely irrational attachment to the belief that Clark would always come back. It was what Conner needed right now, and there wasn't a single other person in the world who would have made that argument to him, not even the people who said they loved Clark the most. Lex didn't believe Clark thought of Lex that way, yet Lex still needed Clark enough to believe that Clark would live.

Conner's parents were really messed up. "Dad Two, do you---" No, that probably shouldn't be asked. Lex didn't like his pain being brought into the light. Conner had learned that, to his sorrow.

"Do I, what?" Lex had dropped his arms and moved slightly away, though closer than he would have been before the comfort. Conner missed being held.

He could remember flashes of the others as kids, held by parents after scraped knees or broken toys. Conner himself had never been hugged until Clark had brought him home.

"Conner?" Lex's voice was concerned and he moved a step closer.

"Nothing, stray memory." Conner shook his head, trying to clear it.

Lex's concern shifted directions. "Your memories of the others, do they ever..." he trailed off, not completing the thought.

Clark rarely asked, and almost never about specifics. Conner didn't mind, though, it was actually a novelty to have both the curiosity and concern in one person. "No, they're just background information. I never get their memories mixed up with mine. Those things didn't happen to me, they happened to them, but having that knowledge of them helps in..." Conner paused, chewing for a word.

"Context? Puts what happens to you in perspective?" Lex cautiously suggested.

With a nod, Conner accepted the word. "My memories are my own. I remember the first moment, when I came to life in the tube, when the world was new and I just stood there absorbing it all. That was before they'd given us language or knowledge or any of the memories and it was... it can't really be put into words. Just seeing, breathing, feeling, being. So strange, so right." The memory was as strong as any other that Conner had, and yet without the language and context it remained apart from his other memories and somewhat alien. "They gave us language first. Then some memories, then some learning. It wasn't all one session, and we were in the tubes between."

Lex looked fascinated. He also looked sad. It wasn't pity for what Conner had been through. Conner was experienced enough with Clark to know this sad look was for the ones that didn't make it. His brothers, all gone now. Some by Conner's own hands as they were conditioned to fight. Some by the scientists as they didn't meet the standards the scientists wanted. The rest in the final explosion that killed the scientists as well. If the scientists hadn't also died, Conner would want to make them pay for what they had done to his brothers.

Conner pushed that memory aside, just as he did the memories of the others. He was in the here and now, and that was all that counted. He had to live in the now, or he would not live at all.

"What will you do now?" Lex asked with uncanny timing, even if he did mean something different than what Conner had been thinking.

Automatically, Conner stretched out his senses to try and hear Superman. Nothing. After a moment, he brought his hearing back in close and focused instead on Lex's heartbeat. It was different, a touch faster than Clark's and in a slightly different pattern. Not very different, but enough so that Conner could tell that this beat was Lex's. He committed it to memory before answering Lex.

"Wonder Woman is coming in to patrol Metropolis regularly, though she'll also be splitting time in Central City. I'll be back nights and some afternoons to make patrols."

Lex gave Kon a sharp glance. "Back?"

Oh yeah, Conner probably should have mentioned that part first. "I'll be staying with Grandma in Smallville as Conner Kent. Lois arranged for Clark to have been sent on an overseas story where he won't be able to call from often. Chloe's gathering the info for Clark to write the story when he gets back."

This time, Kon actually believed it when he said Clark would be back. Oh, he'd _wanted_ to believe it before, but he found that this time he really did. Something inside of him relaxed as he allowed himself to absorb that belief and take it in.

Lex nodded. "If you need anything at all, let me or Hope know."

That Lex had come over here today, dropping everything on a single call from Conner, that was already the anything and everything that Conner needed. He moved in for another hug from his dad two, moving slower than he did with Clark so Lex would have warning.

Lex's arms settled around Conner again. Still loose, not holding as tightly as Dad One, yet just as caring all the same. Now that Conner was focused on something beside himself, he could also feel the faintest of trembling in those arms, as if Lex was unsure, as if he was afraid to hold too tight. So Kon held on tighter instead.

... ... ...

Smallville was small. It was fine for weekend visits, but after a week there, Kon was bored out of his skull. It didn't help matters that Grandma only had an old DSL connection hooked to her older computer and no wireless in the house. The phone could only go so far in making up for the loss of contact with the outside world, and there was only so much playing with kittens that even the kittens could take before they were curled up in sunlight patches, sleeping.

Conner watched the upload bar be replaced with a "connection timed out" message and sighed. "Grandma, are there any cafés or coffee shops with wireless hotspots in town?"

His grandmother came out of the kitchen wiping her hands. "Oh, Conner, honey. Did it go down again? I'm sorry about that. It works fine for me so I just never felt the need to upgrade."

"It's fine, Grandma." Conner really did adore his grandmother. She was wonderful, showering unconditional love on him from the moment Clark had brought Kon home. There weren't a lot of people who would be that accepting from the start. Even Lois and Chloe were still uneasy with Conner, though Lois had grown to be a good friend, too. "I just need to get out a bit." Okay, it was really about the wireless, but he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

She gave him a knowing look and then smiled, accepting both the reality and the excuse. "Over on the main street in Smallville, the Talon has internet. It's a fine coffee shop, owned by a friend of ours."

Conner wondered briefly if there was anybody in the town she wasn't a friend of. So far, it didn't seem like it. He'd been introduced to half the town on their grocery and supply shopping trips. Not that Conner remembered any of their names.

"Sounds great, Grandma. Where is it?"

He got directions, bundled up his laptop, and took off. He still didn't know how to drive a car -- it wasn't necessary in Metropolis -- but there were several good routes from the farm to town where he could run without being seen. Clark had shown him where the tricky spots were and how to watch for watchers and where to drop back to normal speeds and come in without notice.

The Talon was easy enough to find, big and bold on the main street, without that debilitated look that some of the other older shops had. It was well maintained and looked like it did a good business. The Egyptian theme seemed a bit out of context, but at least it was different.

Conner went inside, hearing the usual tinkle of bells and the brief silence within as everybody looked to see who had entered. The silence stretched out for an extra minute as they noticed the stranger, and then a slight buzzing as people recognized him from the shopping trips. Conner ignored the whispers and ordered an Egyptian spiced tea at the counter. The girl got it for him and Kon turned to find a spot.

The coffee shop wasn't too crowded at the moment, after the lunch crowd and before the school groups got out. Enough people to whisper, not enough that Conner didn't have his pick of places. He found a nice spot towards the back and settled in with his laptop and papers. He was still doing high school at Metropolis and was sending in his homework remotely with special permission from the teacher. If he was out here for more than a month, they might consider transferring him into the local high school, but this made more sense for now.

After he'd sent in his homework and checked his email (trading "god, this sucks" emails with Tim), he settled back with his second cup of the tea (it had turned out to actually be good) to check out his surroundings in more detail.

Within seconds, a pretty woman with short black hair came over to him, a welcoming smile on her face. "You must be Conner Kent. You looked just like your dad did at that age." She held out her hand, "I'm Lana Narman."

Conner politely stood and accepted the offered hand. "Nice to meet you, Miss Narman." He offered the seat next to him as they sat back down.

The lady's smile grew wider. "Mrs., but you can just call me Lana. I went to high school with your dad as Lana Lang."

Conner suddenly realized what all the earlier whispers had been about. He kept forgetting about his background story of being born out of wedlock and single mom and all that. Metropolis didn't care. Apparently Smallville did. He blushed slightly, not completely sure as to what his dad would want him to say. There was something about the name, though...

"Oh, hey -- you were Dad's girlfriend before Mom stole him, weren't you?"

As soon as Conner heard what he said, he knew that it _wasn't_ what Dad would have wanted and he sank down in his seat and wished he could either die or turn back time and unsay it.

Lana was laughing. A little surprised, that was evident, but laughing all the same. "You blush just like Clark, too."

It was really very hot in the coffee shop. His glasses were steaming slightly. Conner took a gulp of his tea. "Uh, sorry..."

"It's okay, we weren't really going out at the time, though we'd been thinking about it. Jessie was a really nice person."

That really had 't been the word Clark nor Chloe nor even Lex had used to describe Conner's supposed mom. "Fun-loving" and "a little wild" were the most common terms. Clark had been the hardest to get anything out of at all, which Clark blamed on the red kryptonite he'd been on at the time. It messed with his memories, leaving them fuzzy and more dreamlike than real.

"Smallville was too small for her," Lana smiled in remembrance. "We weren't surprised that she and her dad moved away so soon."

The witness protection part obviously hadn't quite made it to the general population knowledge. Either that or Lana didn't want to mention it if Conner hadn't already known it.

"I'm really sorry for your loss, Conner. I know how that can be, without your mom." An old pain flashed across her face, a part of her that would always be there.

Kon felt guilty, for not honestly feeling it himself. Jessie had been the story, Conner had never had a mom, nor a dad, though he had two dads now. There was a memory from one of the scientists of his dad dying, but that emotion had been relief. Conner shuddered away from the associations that memory brought and thought instead of his lost brothers. "Thanks," he said, meaning it. Lana had been the first person to express any sort of sympathy, never mind that everybody else close to him knew it was a sham.

"So, um, you got married?" Conner really wanted to ask more about his dad, but it was a little weird knowing Lana had been the ex-girlfriend.

Lana's smile returned, bright and brilliant. "Yes, and we're quite happy and have a little girl. Hopefully more to join the family later. Don't worry about that and ask what you will. Clark and I parted on good terms and we're still friends."

"Oh good," Conner said, relieved and happy to have permission. "So how did you get home after Dad left you at that bar?"

The smile disappeared as Lana blinked in surprise. "How... did your mom tell you about that?"

"Uh, no, Mom never talked about Smallville. I didn't even know about Dad until Mom died and it was in her will."

"Clark didn't tell you about that... he wouldn't have," Lana said positively, though with a little uncertainty.

Actually, Clark had, but only after Conner had already known about it and pestered Clark's version out of him. At that, Clark's details had been very scanty. "Lex told me – it was his car Clark had borrowed and he said he'd always wondered about it himself after he'd found out what had happened so I was kind of wondering too."

Lana blinked again. "I took a cab home. Lex told you? You... talk to Lex Luthor?"

"Um," Conner was so screwed. "I have a scholarship with LexCorp." He picked up his cup to cover his nervousness.

Lana gave him a rather direct look that said she didn't believe a word of it. "A lot of people have LexCorp scholarships." She glanced around the Talon with great familiarity. "Lex and I are partners, you know."

Kon choked on his tea.

" _Business_ partners," Lana emphasized with a roll of her eyes. "I own the Talon. Lex put up the initial money for it and we've kept the partnership ever since." She sipped her own coffee. "Every time Clark comes over, I get the ten minute lecture on how horrible Lex is and how I should dissolve the partnership and why am I still talking to him after all these years when I know what he is and what he's done." She raised an eyebrow at Conner. "But you talk to him."

Conner fiddled with his napkin, folding and unfolding it, shredding it on the last fold. "They're getting along better now."

"Really."

"Um, well, yeah." They could stay in the same room and talk now, and they looked at each other when they weren't talking. The looks sometimes said more than the talking. Conner was happy enough at the progress, particularly considering the disastrous breakfast the other month. He probably shouldn't, though, be talking about it. Hope would be annoyed with him.

Lana suddenly grinned. "Good."

That was probably the last reaction Conner had expected, not that he'd thought about expecting anything. He refocused his attention on Lana, making a inquiring noise and listening intently for the answer.

"They had been such good friends. Watching them fall apart was hard. I was on Clark's side, of course, but we were really little more than children. Being older, it's easier to see it wasn't all Lex's fault." She was silent for awhile. "Conner, if you ever start feeling like there is only one way, only one perfect path, only one answer to an argument... remember that there is always another side and to stop and look for that side before proceeding on."

Kon was starting to get why his dad always felt guilty around Lex. He frowned.

Lana brushed a hand through her hair. "We were teenagers in high school, and Lex was six years older and an adult in charge of the plant. He drifted in and out of our group, but there was always that divide. Not to mention his father always hovering over him even when he wasn't physically there. Lex had to live on his own, between the worlds, and we didn't understand that part of him."

She was silent for a moment, then asked, "What does Clark think now?"

Conner made the decision to trust Lana. He liked her. She wasn't part of the Justice League group with their holier-than-thou attitude, and she'd kept in contact with both dads over the years. From the little she'd said, Conner could tell it wasn't just one-sided now. Conner hadn't really broached it yet with Grandma, but he kind of thought she'd be on Clark's side, or Clark's former side -- the anti-Lex camp. Lana was an unexpected possible ally in Kon's campaign to get them back together.

"Dad... regrets a lot of it. Neither of them will actually tell me much, but when they're yelling at each other, I pick up stuff. Getting them in the same room is the harder part. The scholarship helps with that. We've got some regular group meetings where the parents can come and see what we're doing, and D... Lex usually shows up at that."

"The yelling can't be easy on you," Lana observed. "How did you meet Lex?"

Okay, there would be more people than Hope yelling at him if Kon said anything about _that_. "Um, long story." Suddenly inspired, he added, "It had to do with my mom. That witness protection program she was with and trying to find Clark with the layers of legal things. Lex kind of smoothed the way when he heard about it."

Lana smiled. "Lex would. And Clark might be stubborn, but he's also fair. That's a good start."

Conner eagerly asked the thing that nobody had yet given him a good answer on. "What were they like? When they were friends?"

"Three years in a lifetime," Lana said softly, her gaze in the distance. "They were more than friends. Best friends, yet more than that as well. I didn't know either of them in the beginning, Clark was just a neighbor who I didn't see much, and Lex was the son of one of my aunt's friends."

Kon's gaze sharpened at that. Lana's aunt had been friends with Lex's dad?

"In high school, Clark started... well, he was interested, and I was... well, I had a boyfriend already. Lex, though, Lex would move heaven and earth to get Clark what he wanted. Lex arranged so much to try and draw my attention to Clark. Band tickets, old movie projectors, dropping hints with anvils every time I talked with him about how wonderful Clark was. This coffee house."

Knowing what he knew, or rather guessed about his dads, that just sounded wrong. Conner blinked. "Uh, that's a little... I mean, that's... well, it's kind of..." Conner gave up.

Giving a little laugh, Lana agreed. "I know. I mean, it was always a little weird, really, though over-the-top described Lex well even back then; but knowing what I know about them _now_ , it's just really weird." She shook her head. "They should just have skipped me and gone out with each other to start with. Though I would have missed the memories." The last was said wistfully.

Conner stared. "You know about them?"

Lana shrugged. "Their friendship was really amazing, yet some friendships are. Closer than brothers, closer than anything. It was really, though, when the friendship broke for the last time that I realized it was more than friendship, and I think that's when they realized too. Or at least when Clark did. Lex probably always knew, but Clark was too young, too distracted by other things."

She gazed at Conner over the top of her coffee as she paused for a drink. "I've been watching my friend's daughter try and get her parents back together after they divorced a few years ago, and trying to help where I can because they are better together than apart. You looked very much the same when you were talking about them."

Taking lessons from Hope might be a good idea if Kon was going to do this double-life thing. He just wasn't used to it yet, though. Conner was himself, and he'd only been himself for a year. Superboy and Conner Kent were both invented at the same time, and Conner wasn't really sure there was a difference. He had played roles before, though. In the lab, he and his brothers never let the scientists know just how much they knew, how much they communicated with each other between sessions. A glance coming back from one treatment, a grimace for another, a few words exchanged where they could. Kon had thrown that all away when Superman had broken Kon's conditioning. He didn't really _want_ to start it again.

"It's okay," Lana said gently. "I don't think anybody else would have noticed. You're safe, no matter who else you've talked to." She smiled a little sadly, "Even reporters have their blind spots."

There was a little silence between them, then Lana broke it again. "Stories about Clark and Lex..." Lana sipped her coffee again as she thought. "Lex has always been a little extravagant when it comes to gifts and showing his affection. Or he used to. They told you how they first met, right?"

"Um, Lex's car spun out and hit," Kon did some quick mental editing before he spoke the next few words, "the rail on the bridge next to Clark and fell in the river. Clark rescued him and they became friends."

Lana snorted, trying not to cough up her drink. "That must have been Clark's version."

Conner blinked. "It's not what happened?"

"It's a cleaned up version of it." Lana reposed the drink between her hands and smiled down at it. "Well, not that any of us were there when it happened, but it was written up in the newspapers and was the talk of the town for months afterwards. Lex's car did spin out and crashed through the bridge, going into the water below. When he didn't come out, Clark dove in after him, twenty feet down into the river. Lex wasn't breathing and Clark used CPR to bring him back to life. They were both freezing cold and huddled together for warmth when the rescue crews came for them. There's a wonderful picture in the news of them in red blankets standing together while the car is wrenched out of the river behind them."

Conner was going to have to find those newspaper archives. He really liked that image of the record of their first meeting. Now that Lana was describing it, Conner did remember Dad mentioning the CPR bit, Conner just hadn't thought through to what it had meant. He shivered at the idea of how close it had been for both of them. If Dad wasn't invulnerable.... At least the town pretty much all believed that the car hit the rail. "Dad said something about a truck?"

Lana smiled. "That was the first example we had of Lex. What would you do if somebody saved your life?"

"Say 'thank you very much'?" Conner questioned his answer. Clark had saved his life and he'd moved in with Clark, given him his love for life, adopted him when Clark had welcomed him in. He didn't think that was the quite the same thing, though.

"Lex sent over, by delivery messenger, a truck. A huge, top of the line, all-terrain, air-conditioned, digital interior, leather seats, the full works, truck." Lana was laughing as she described it. "All of the high school was envious as heck. And then we found out that Clark's dad made him give it back."

Conner didn't drive, but he still let out a little whimper at the thought. It sounded like such a great present... it would be like if somebody had given him the latest computer with memory up the kazoo and expensive applications and games already loaded.

Lana nodded. "It was horrible. Clark sulked for days at school over it. But later on, when I'd gotten to know their family better, I asked his mom about it. She said that they couldn't afford the car insurance that would have come with owning the truck. It was also one of those newer models that needed computer connections in the shop -- no popping the hood and just fixing it."

"Oh..." Conner opened and closed his mouth a few times. Yeah. That... it would be like him having to pay for the higher bandwidth internet connection his new computer needed. Or trying to run it on Grandma's ancient modem. "Lex didn't think of that."

"No," Lana agreed. "He thought of a truck, for the farm, but that was as far as it went. He was young, he was rich, and he'd never met anybody like Clark before." She smiled a little sadly. "Clark had never met anybody like Lex. It was the foundation of their friendship."

"Opposites attract?" Conner asked a little sarcastically.

With a shrug, Lana let the sarcasm roll off. "If you like. Or a connection in spite of it. They were both interested and intrigued, and there was something similar about them that called out despite the differences. They were both very intelligent, though Clark tried not to show it much. They were both generous and willing to help their friends, though in different ways. They were loyal to their friends. They both had secrets they wouldn't share. Family was important to them, even with their very different families.

"They liked each other. Even without all the rest, if that first connection hadn't been there, they wouldn't have been friends." Lana looked around the coffee shop, apparently looking at her memories.

Conner wished he'd been there, that he'd seen that early friendship. He'd gotten a glimpse of it in Morocco, when Lex and Clark had been easily conversing with a give and take that spoke of a real knowledge of the other. Yet then Lex had his temper tantrum and threw them out. That part had scared Kon badly. The anger of a person that Conner had so wanted to get close to, the fury in his eyes. Dad had taken it almost in stride, though, indicating that it could be worse.

He really would have to look up those newspaper articles. The library would have archives, wouldn't it?

Lana stood up. "Conner, it's been wonderful meeting you. I'm usually here in the morning through early afternoon. If you want to talk about your parents again, or just a cup of tea, please feel free to make yourself at home here."

She glanced around the room and the eyes that had been on them when she stood instantly all looked elsewhere. Conner quirked a grin at the subtle use of command. He thought he would be able to come here without any problems. Maybe a few whispers, a little segregation, but with the approval from the owner of the shop, anything else would be muted.

Kon stood also and took the hand that Lana held out. "Thank you," he said with genuine gratitude. "Thank you very much." She didn't have to be nice to him, and she had been. It meant a lot.

With another smile, Lana left, going to the back of the shop and through a door marked for employees only. Conner thought he might be a little bit in love. Except that macking on your dad's former girlfriend, who was now married... that was just eww.

Conner wiggled his mouse and then hit the spacebar to wake his computer up. He sent Tim another couple of emails right quick and then shut the computer down. He wasn't going to get any more work done today and he might as well head home. He wondered if Grandma had any photo albums.

... ... ...

After Conner left the Talon, he was too restless to go home immediately. Talking to Lana had stirred up a lot of things inside of him. He might be a teenager in body, yet he didn't have the experience; a year's worth of his own life, no more. For most people, there was history and background and people who knew people for years before they really lived. Conner hadn't missed that part before, caught up in the overwhelming experience of actually being alive, and yet... now he wondered.

He wanted a family so badly, but not just any family -- he wanted his own.

Kon took off the glasses and carefully put them in their case before streaking to a strand of trees and changing outfits. As Superboy, he flew through the trees and the outskirts of the town to fifty miles south, then he went east, then he went up. As far as muddling trails went, it wasn't great, but it would have to do.

The location beacon brought him near to the Justice League satellite, and he carefully acknowledged the warning and put in his code before he flew into the shuttle hangar. Once through the airlock, he headed to the control room.

"Hi, guys," Kon said as he walked in. Today's shift was Impulse for the Teen Titans and Zatanna for the adult League. They both acknowledged his entrance.

"That's just so weird when you do that," Bart said.

Conner blinked, "What?"

"When you just fly up here like that."

Conner blinked again. "What's so weird about it?"

Zatanna diplomatically replied before Impulse could. "Most members of the League use the teleportation centers."

"Oh." Conner realized there were very few of them that could fly through atmosphere. Superman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern... and all three of them were now currently off-world. Off-universe for that matter. That left him rather unique right now. That... was rather a scary thought. Conner shivered. Maybe he would start using the teleportation centers just not to stand out so much.

That wasn't what he'd come here for, though. "Any word from my dad?"

Zatanna walked over and hugged him. Kon restrained himself from wiggling free. It was one thing to be hugged by his dads and his grandma, whose loving hugs he gladly returned and asked for more, but strangers -- even proven honest acquaintances like the JL group -- were another matter. His fighting instinct was strong against people physically close to him.

"Sorry, Superboy, nothing yet. You know we'll send you word as soon as we hear anything at all." Zatanna finally backed off and Conner breathed a sigh of relief under his breath.

"Thanks," he replied, smiling at her. It wasn't her fault he was a motherless orphan whose new dad was off in the depths of nowhere. At least for all he knew, Superman was still alive. And he believed that, really he did.

Kon turned to Impulse. "How's your grand-uncle?"

Impulse winced a little. "Can you just call him my uncle? He's not that much older than my dad and it just sounds weird to have the 'grand' in front of it."

"Better yet, don't use the relationship at all," Zatanna reproved. "We might be in Headquarters, but this isn't a place to talk about secret identities or relationships."

"Except mine," Conner noted. Everybody knew he was Superman's son. "But seriously, Ba--- Impulse, how is he?"

Impulse put on a brave face, with hope there. "He's a lot better. Still in the JL hospital, but he's woken up a couple of times and the doctors are optimistic about his healing. We're trying to accelerate it as much as we can, but just keeping him stable is the main thing for now."

Kon remembered the broken body he'd seen and nodded. He was glad the Flash was alive. "If I can do anything, let me know." Not that he could do anything JL doctors couldn't, but he had to make the offer.

Taking the offer in the spirit was meant, Impulse nodded gratefully.

Going away from the hard bits, Conner asked Impulse about Teen Titan news and he basked in the updates from his colleagues. He really did have more in common with them than the kids he went to high school with. He liked hearing about their superhero exploits and also their daily grinds. Knowing they were going through both together and balancing those lives made it easier for him to accept that he too was in both worlds.

When he and Impulse were done gossiping, Conner turned to Zatanna and asked for updates on the Superhero roster rotations on Metropolis. He knew that Wonder Woman was currently there, and he would be joining her at night for a combined patrol, yet he didn't want to just leave his city in the adults' hands. It was his city, and Superman's, and the others were helping. He wanted to be fully informed as to what they were doing to help, and how he might be able to help them in return.

Eventually, there wasn't anything else to talk about, and it was time to head home. Self-consciously, Kon took the transport to the nearest station to Metropolis. Which wasn't actually anywhere near Metropolis. Conner guessed that Clark never bothered with it himself or that they'd decided not to spend the money and resources for something so unnecessary.

On the way to Smallville, Kon detoured, taking the opportunity to go through Metropolis first. He avoided the apartment and the usual haunts, and instead wandered by the river edge. Watching the water, he remembered what Lana had told him about his fathers' first meeting, and how close he'd come to not having any fathers at all.

On impulse, Kon pulled out his cell phone and dialed his new favorite number.

"Yes?"

Conner reveled for a moment in the sound of his dad two's voice. One dad was away, yet the other was here. "Hi, DT," he said happily.

"Conner," Lex's voice softened.

For a brief moment, Conner wondered who else had this particular number, and why didn't his cell phone show up on caller ID? Though Lex probably wouldn't ever trust an ID unless he'd made it himself so he might never assume a caller until he'd heard them.

"How are you doing?" Conner asked.

There was a brief silence and then silent laughter that Conner could feel over the phone. "My day was fine, thank you. And yours?"

Conner grinned. He liked sparring with Dad Two. "Hey, DT... I don't want to sound like my dad or anything..."

"I sense a 'however' in there."

"I was going to say 'but'."

"You're the son of a reporter, where are your elegant words?"

"Who does what their parents do?"

"Point. And your 'but'?"

"I was wondering, can you do anything to help the Flash?"

There was another pause on the line, and Conner wished he was there talking to Dad Two in person.

"The Justice League doctors are better than any I have at my call, or would be able to get. I don't have any personal resources in biological and medical research that would be of advantage to them. And, I'm sorry, but I cannot transfer my healing to any other person, despite our own research for that."

Conner hadn't really expected anything else, but at least wanted to ask. He was, however, thrown by the last statement. "Yeah. I knew, but I had to ask anyhow. Um, your healing? You've got healing powers?"

This time, the silence felt startled. "You don't know?"

"Know?" Conner was getting a little tired of only having part of any story and not having been around for all the others. It wasn't his fault he'd been hatched out of a test tube.

"No, of course you wouldn't. I apologize. I was in Smallville the day of the meteor shower, and my two-sided gift was that of healing. It's come in useful over the years, though we try not to let anybody know about it. The mutation is why I can't be cloned with any stability."

Kon blinked. "I thought that was Dad."

As the silence stretched out, Conner really, really wished he was there in person. He tried figuring out where in the LexCorp tower Lex would be, but with all the lead built into the building, it was impossible to x-ray through.

"It's related. Superman cannot be cloned at all because of how his alien heritage reacts to the yellow sun here, and no meteor mutant clone will ever be stable because of how the alien radiation interacted with our DNA."

"None?"

"None. Which is a very good thing for the world. Too many people, including the US Government, know about the Smallville mutations and track the original mutants."

"They do?"

Lex sighed, audible over the phone.

"Um." Conner knew that even if he hadn't been told that specifically, it was something he probably should have been able to figure out.

Conner backtracked. "What's the second side of your healing?"

"Some would say psychosis would be the other side." The bitterness was obvious in Lex's voice. That got Conner's back up.

"And some would be wrong," he snapped. "Knock it off."

Lex laughed, the delight breaking through. "You sound like Hope."

"Well, good for her," Conner fumed.

Instead of responding to that, Lex switched to a more real answer. "The healing came with my obvious physical mutation of no hair on my body -- hair is made up of dead cells and they are rejected by my body. I also am infertile, as no independent organism can live within my body. Blood cells and stem cells, yes, viruses and sperm, no."

"Oh." Well, so much for all the paternity suits that were always being brought against Lex. No wonder he slept around if he didn't care about any of the consequences. No diseases, no babies. Conner hadn't really thought of the baldness as a symptom, though. It just looked so natural on Lex, he couldn't even picture him with hair. "What color was your hair originally?"

"Bright red," Lex said ruefully. "In some ways, losing it might have been a good thing."

Conner laughed at that. "So... no living things -- no gut bacteria?"

"I have them, however if you look at them under a microscope, they're not the same as normal humans'. I went through a period when I was seventeen of throwing up and being stomach sick a lot. At the time, I thought it was the alcohol and parties; not that it stopped me from going to them. Now, I think my body was trying to get rid of the bacteria and found it wasn't a good idea, so it adapted them instead.

"When I was twenty-one, my white blood cell count was off the charts. The doctors thought I had leukemia, though they couldn’t find any other signs of it, and gave me six months to live. That, though, was apparently my body ramping up the healing process and learning how to repair damage. I recovered from injuries much quicker after that. Which was a very good thing, living in Smallville."

Conner did some mental calculations and realized that must have been right after Lex had moved to Smallville. He'd thought he was dying the whole time? Well, at least for the first part of it. That put a slightly different spin on some of the things Lex had done there. Conner didn't want to ask about it right now, though. He wanted to go through the newspapers and talk to Grandma and Lana first.

He switched topics back to one of his postponed thoughts. "Can I be cloned?"

"What?"

"Well, you can't be cloned, and Dad can't be cloned, but combining you two produced me... what's my DNA like? I'm not an alien nor a mutant, so can I be cloned?"

"I... don't want to know. I hope not."

That answer was a bit surprising. Kon made an inquiring noise.

"Conner, I love you and I never want you to forget that. No matter what or how you were brought into our lives, the important thing is you.

"However, additional cloning of a person as powerful as you are, without the moral guides that you and Superman follow would not be prudent. It's bad enough that the researchers stumbled into a method to combine our DNAs. I don't want you to be taken and experimented on for your cells."

Put like that, Conner rather hoped he wasn't clonable either. He shuddered. He kept trying to forget about his origins and move on with his life, but they kept coming back and smacking him in the face.

"But can I have kids?"

Lex's voice sharpened. "Use a condom. Use super-strengthened condoms. Get a reversible vasectomy. Until you are ready for parenthood, you shouldn't be having unprotected sex!"

Conner waved his arms, forgetting that Lex couldn't see him, then brought the phone back to his face. "Geez, DT, chill! I don't want kids! I'm not seeing anybody! I'm not even fucking anybody. I just was wondering. I think I'll stop wondering now."

"Sorry," Lex said, not sounding very repentant, "However, do ask your dad for some of the super-strength condoms just so you can have them in case."

There was no way Conner was asking his dad about anything like that. Lex's reaction was mild compared to what he'd get from Clark, and he knew he'd get a morals lecture on top of it. Absolutely no way.

"Or just get them from the Fortress. I believe that's where Superman has them made."

If Conner ever did need to talk to one of his dads about sex, he was pretty sure he was going to Lex. Lex was kind of practical about such things. That wasn't really the point for right now, though. While Conner appreciated a good breast or two, and even nice asses, he was too absorbed in everything else about regular living to really think about actually doing it with anybody.

"Okay, okay, okay, already. Enough, please." Conner was turning red.

Lex laughed.

Conner tried to think of the next step in the conversation, but he was still stuck on the sex. As he tried to get past it, his super-hearing picked up footsteps and rustling paper noises on the other side of the line. The phone was abruptly muted for a few seconds before it was back again.

"So how do you like Smallville?" Lex's voice was casual, nothing at all to indicate that he was a very busy man and Conner was taking up his time.

Reluctantly, Conner knew he would have to let him go. It was an impulsive call and he'd already taken up way too much of Lex's time. He didn't want to, he liked having this connection with his dad two. It eased the pang in his heart of Dad One being gone. It was also great, getting closer to Dad Two and knowing more about him. But he shouldn't monopolize.

"It's small," Conner responded, joking a bit despite his heavy heart. He wanted to go over and hug DT and make sure everything was okay. "Hey, speaking of which, I should probably be getting back. Grandma didn't know I was going to be gone this long."

Another pause, then Lex's voice again, a regretful tone to it. "Okay, Conner. I'm sorry I couldn't help this time, but I'll try and see if there's any way we can assist. Call me any time."

"I will," Conner promised. "Bye, DT."

"Goodbye."

There were several seconds of silence where neither one hit the off button, and then Conner finally pressed his.

He put the phone in his pocket, drew his knees up to his chin, and watched out over the water.

Conner waited until the sunset, then headed back to Smallville for dinner with Grandma and then patrol with Wonder Woman.

...

 

"Um, so yeah," Tim sounded hesitant on the phone. "Is this a secure line?"

Conner shrugged. "Chloe says it is."

"Bruce wants to know why LexCorp is suddenly investing in Wayne Industries Medical Research."

Conner sighed and rolled his eyes.

... ... ...

Instead of staying at the farm anymore, Conner's days now were spent wandering between the library and the Talon, exploring the rest of the small town as well. He was more familiar in the community now, a common sight, and accepted by his parents' peers, led by Lana. He also shopped at Fordman's, which endeared him to the local populace for some obscure reason.

Lana told him tales of his parents, warning him that they were only from what she knew and they weren't ever going to be the whole story. That was fine with Conner, he still hung on every word.

Clark's mysterious disappearances, the miraculous saves, the weird happenings around the town... Conner couldn't figure out how Clark ever thought it was a secret in the first place. Lana gave the mystery lip service while still subtly pointing out to Conner the parts that Clark probably had a hand in. Small towns and their protectiveness. None of them even seemed to even want to turn in the murderers in the midst of their problems, blaming everything but the people, or ignoring it altogether.

The day Lana's daughter showed up in the Talon was a day Conner almost freaked out. It was a school day off, and the reasons for Lana leaving the Talon at 3pm were now explained. Gabriella was the cutest little girl, all button nosed and dark-haired and questions spinning from her lips as fast as she could ask them. She was also only eight years old.

Lana had married fairly soon out of high school -- a year of bouncing around Europe and then home again to settle in the small town. Her daughter was the oldest of that generation in Smallville, except now, for Conner himself. He realized just how right Lex and Clark had been to place his age at fourteen. Little Gabby was his closest compatriot... and she was half his age. No wonder the town stared at him and whispered.

Gabby herself was a delight, spoiled with love but not in a bratty way. She promptly attached herself to Conner and he couldn't do anything but let her in. She reminded him of his kittens. He'd never had a sister. Brothers, yes, while they were all in test tubes and experiments, but never a little sister that just bounced her way in and believed the world was a good and happy place, there only to delight her and give her love. Conner was utterly captivated and hoped she would never ever find anything else but that in the world.

Beyond Smallville, Conner kept an eye on the rest of the world. There was no word from Superman or his companions. Conner tried not to brood too much about that and spent time patrolling with Wonder Woman and Batman and going on adventures with the Teen Titans. He described the conversation with Lex about the super-condoms to Tim and that stoic friend of his was rolling on the ground laughing by the time Conner got to the end. He also asked for a sample the next time Conner went to the Fortress.

"Wayne Industries started a scholarship program," Tim mentioned one day when Conner was over for practice. "I've applied for one in Engineering."

Conner grinned, remembering the day in the park. Then he blushed, remembering the joke that had been played on him. Resolutely, he put it out of his mind and concentrated on the present. "Somehow, I think you'll get it."

Tim laughed. "Yeah. But I really am looking forward to it. You've learned so much in your physics one."

There was a meeting of the scholarship group coming up soon. It would be the first one Conner had attended without Clark. Half of the fun of the meetings was watching Clark and Lex dance around each other. But it was hard to dance without one of the partners there.

"Hey, Flash is out of the hospital!" Tim interrupted himself with the news.

"Really?" Conner asked in surprise. Just the other week, Impulse had said it was still too soon.

"Yeah, they were talking about some breakthroughs that made it possible for Flash to bring some of his accelerated speed to play in his molecules, speeding the healing."

Conner had to laugh. Breakthroughs. Right. He suspected he knew what was behind that. "Um, good. That's... good."

Tim looked at him a little suspiciously, then shrugged and went on with more talk about recent happenings. Cassandra had apparently gotten a lasso and was practicing with it on anybody who could dare her lighting. Kon perked up at that and vowed to go play with Cassie once he and Tim were done chatting. Cassie was, like Wonder Woman, almost invulnerable herself and Conner didn't have to hold back while they were sparring. Both he and Cassie really enjoyed their full-out battles, much like the kittens at play in Smallville.

Smallville was quiet, Conner would give it that. It was useful for resting after the JL interludes. Just a touch of normality where nothing would happen and Conner could relax.

As Grandma sat on the couch and watched her night shows, Conner lay on the carpet near the fireplace and dangled a string for his cats.

Delicate Cali raised up on her hind paws to bat at it. Sturdy Sue simply went for Conner's hands. Conner didn't particularly care about scratches, but he knew he needed not to encourage them to think of all humans as indestructible. "No, Sue," Conner said, and gently directed the kitten to gentler play.

The kittens were adorable, and each had such different personalities. They even looked totally different. Cali was a cute little calico, with white and orange and brown markings all over and Sue was full black, only a few little white whiskers. Hard to believe they were clones of the same original momma cat. But then, they were birthed from a surrogate momma. Which was the real parent, the ones that brought you forth, or the ones from whom your genes came from, or even the ones who raised you?

Grandma Kent was no true relation of his, having adopted Clark as a baby, yet she was everything a grandmother was supposed to be -- loving and open and welcoming and ready with the hugs and cookies at any time.

Clark had unknowingly donated his DNA, yet wasn't the one to bring Conner forth.

The scientists had produced Conner and raised him.

Conner had rejected his raising and run to his DNA, looking for something he'd never had. He knew that adopted kids were supposed to have problems with acceptance issues and not being wanted... but Conner had never not been wanted -- he just didn't want what they had wanted for him, and his real dad had welcomed him in. So had his second dad when they found out.

What was a family? What was genetics? What did one have to do with the other? Genetics didn't make a family. Even though Conner had run to his genetic parents and was astounded that they both welcomed him, it was their welcoming that really made them family. He wondered if he would have felt the same if neither one had wanted him and he'd had to find that welcome somewhere else. That, though, hadn't happened, and he was thankful for it. As it was, he had the family he wanted. Well, mostly. Now all he had to do was to get them all together as one, not in scattered bits and pieces across the board.

Sue tried to use Conner as a tree while Cali chased after her. Conner gave up on his thoughts and went back to playing with the kittens instead.

... ... ...

The next time that Conner knew the elementary schools had a day off, Conner put Sue and Cali into their harnesses and took them with him to the Talon. They were pretty well behaved on harness, Conner having started training them back when they'd lived in the apartment, and he kept it up at the farm. There was no way he was letting them loose at the farm with who knew what out there to get them.

Predictably, Gabby took one look and shrieked with joy loud enough to bring down the house. As Conner was rushed by an enthusiastic eight-year old, the Talon patrons turned to stare before they laughed and went back to their own concerns.

Lana came over and watched Conner show Gabriella how to pet the kittens with gentle strokes and not grab too quickly or roughly at them. "So much for health-code regulations," she said ruefully, her mouth quirked up in a grin.

"Um," Conner looked around.

Lana laughed. "It's okay. We let small dogs in too, just don't go back behind the counter with them."

Though he'd never had it before, Conner felt the sudden urge to go back behind the counter. What did they keep back there? How did they organize the drinks? Were there labels on everything?

He squashed the impulse and went back to Gabby and the kittens. He pulled out their favorite wand toys and introduced her to the delight of playing with them.

"That's it," Lana sighed ruefully, "I'm going to have to get a pair of kittens now. I've been putting it off, but it's just become a complete necessity."

"I know some good no-kill shelters with some, but the kittens go fast," Conner offered.

"Thanks," Lana replied, showing her appreciation for the suggestion without directly accepting it.

Conner realized that here in Smallville, there were probably a lot of farms with barn cats and yard dogs who were always having litters. Not a good thing in the city (his kittens were both spayed already), but on farms right next to the countryside, there were enough predators around to keep the population under control and have some for giveaway. He shuddered just a little to think of the fate of those non-pets, and how different the life between those brought into households were versus the life of those outside and simply there. It was practical, but it did hurt to think about. For the scientists who raised him, Conner had been practical as well.

Resolutely, Conner continued playing with Gabby and the kittens. His cats would never ever be just practical; they would always be loved. He promised them this fiercely in his heart.

Over in a corner, Conner and Gabby played with the kittens, concentrating on them, with Conner whispering little hints and tips for engaging them and making the kittens happy and not hurting them. The other Talon patrons floated in and out, talking and walking around them, watching them with amusement. Conner ignored them in favor of the fun.

Then the feeling of being watched intruded onto Kon's consciousness.

Lifting his head, Conner looked around. He didn't necessarily recognize everybody in the coffee shop. Some of the regulars, yes, and Lana's friends, but there were always more people there than he knew and he hadn't tried to memorize them. The feeling was from one of them. Now who...

Kon's eyes met those of a young man seated by himself at a middle table. Of mixed Asian heritage and dressed in business casual, he had a coffee and a newspaper in front of him, but his gaze was on Conner. He nodded and smiled when their eyes met, but the smile didn't erase the chill on Conner's spine.

Not wanting to reveal his unease, Conner nodded back and then looked down where he was dragging the ribbon. As Sue pounced on it, Conner wiggled it back out and then off to a side where he could also look at one of the mirrors.

The man had gone back to reading his newspaper, apparently not paying attention at all. Conner was sure, though, that there was something there. Nothing obvious, nothing overt, just that feeling he had. There was danger here, he knew it.

After his coffee was done, the man folded his newspaper and left.

Conner watched with x-ray vision as the man went to a compact car parked halfway down the block and got in. Nondescript gold, basic model. Nothing unusual about it in the x-ray. In fact, Conner thought he recognized a rental car tag on it. He memorized the license plate anyhow. The man didn't stop to call anybody or make any notes or anything. He just drove off.

The temptation was there for Conner to jump up, dash out, and follow him. But there were two kittens and a little girl that he wouldn't abandon. For all he knew, the danger was in doing just that.

He got through the rest of the time at the Talon by reverting to his roots and hiding his worry inside. He concentrated on the happy child he was with and making her life happy and secure and full of love. The rest of it he would deal with later.

That night, he forwent his patrol of Metropolis, sending a message to the JL and staying in Smallville. He unobtrusively patrolled Smallville instead.

Nothing. Nothing moved. Well, the cows moved. And the raccoons and the mice and the late night townspeople. But nothing that was out of place.

The unease didn't go away. Conner couldn't think of anything about the young man that made him think that he was the one behind his apprehension, and yet it was there.

As he sat on top of the old water tower and watched the sun rise over the fields, Conner wanted his father. Clark would know what to do, would show Conner how to figure out what this was, to track down the person, or the person the person was working for. Or... Conner sucked in his breath. It wasn't Dad he needed, it was Dad Two.

That young man in the coffee shop. There was no physical resemblance at all, but Conner was sure that he was somehow connected with that reporter in the restaurant a few months back.

The more he thought about it, the more he was sure. There was nothing tangible connecting the two at all, just a feeling, but it was a feeling he felt bone deep.

Conner pulled out his phone. "DT, do you remember that guy from the restaurant?"

"What's happened?" Lex's voice sharpened.

Conner explained about the guy in the coffee shop.

There was a tense silence for several long moments, then, "I'm coming over. Tell Mrs. Kent to expect me in forty minutes." Then the line cut off.

It took most people an hour and a half to get to Smallville. Apparently driving off a bridge in his youth hadn't cured his dad two of reckless driving. Unless he was planning to take a helicopter. The important thing, though, was that he was coming. He hadn't said anything about what it was, but it was important enough for him to come.

Slowly, Conner put the phone away and watched the sun some more as he thought about what it might mean. Then he realized he wasn't even sure if Grandma was up yet and jumped off the tower and dashed back to the farm to make sure she was warned.

... ... ...

"Mrs. Kent," Lex said as he stood on the porch and stiffly held himself. He made a slight bow to her, but there was a definite strain of tension between the two of them.

Funny, Conner had always thought of Grandma as a wonderful sweet person who accepted and loved everybody. Yet she definitely didn't like Lex. Conner blinked. It was the strangest sight in the world. He'd already gotten the idea when going through the family photos with her and the way she didn't talk about the ones with Lex, but she'd mostly avoided the whole topic. Here in person... whoa. Strange. It reminded him of Chloe, actually, not that Conner had ever seen her with Lex. He'd bet, though, that Chloe would spit. Grandma just went all reserved and polite.

"We won't intrude," Lex said, "We'll go out to the loft to talk."

Conner blinked, then shuddered, but he had to agree that the house wouldn't be a good place for any sort of real discussion. It was a home, not a war camp.

As they walked out together, Conner saw Mercy prowling the territory. "Where's Hope?"

"She and Justice are in town. I've got one of our agents with Lana." Lex confidently strode into the barn and headed directly towards the loft stairs without looking for them. "As usual, he's probably not around anymore, but I don't want to take the chance. I've also alerted Oracle to step up the surveillance on the farm."

"Oracle? Surveillance?" Conner's voice rose high as he kept to the side of Lex away from the horse stalls.

"She and I came to an agreement over our mutual surveillance areas years ago. Neither of us will cede to the other, yet we share when it is in our best mutual interests."

"Years ago? Does Grandma know?"

Lex snorted. "Of course she knows, but she'll never say anything. She doesn't like it that we do it. All the farmhands are cleared by both Oracle and I before they are hired." He started up the stairs, a hand hovering an inch above the rail as he went up.

"What about Chloe?" Conner couldn't wait to get upstairs and away from the barn floor. He was practically on Lex's heels.

"Watchtower does not watch in Smallville," Lex said grimly. "Superman and Batman agreed when the Justice League formed that it would be better for Oracle to monitor here."

That was a little odd. But here was the top of the stairs. Conner hauled up before he ran into Lex's back. There was a long pause before Lex moved off to one side and let Conner by. Lex's hand gripped the railing at the top of the loft tightly.

"You haven't changed very much about it," Lex said, a curious note in his voice.

Conner looked curiously around the room. It was kind of cool, a nice little retreat with a sofa, a desk, a bookcase, a little chest even. "I haven't changed anything -- this is the first time I've been up here."

Lex turned around and looked at him, eyebrows raising off his forehead.

"Barn," Conner said succinctly. "Cows. Horses. I stay in the house."

Lex's lips twitched. Conner was just _so_ glad that his fears were a subject of amusement to his fathers. He glared at Lex, daring him to say anything.

With a disbelieving shake of his head, Lex instead started on a long circuit through the loft. Periodically he'd reach out to touch something. The hammock there, a book here, a pause at the large window, a final stop at the almost hidden rapier in the corner. Lex's face twisted in bitter pain as he picked it up with a practiced hand.

"You gave him a rapier?" Conner guessed, slightly bemused. His dad and weapons just didn't go along together.

"It's a foil," Lex put it back down again. "Every hero needs a foil."

Conner opened his mouth then closed it again. "Seriously? Even for you, DT, that's a bit much!"

Lex snorted and went to the desk and sat down on the old wooden chair. "I was twenty-one. We were still friends at the time. It was supposed to be a joke, not a remark on how our lives were going to be."

With a wince, Conner wished he left his mouth at the closed part and not opened it again. And yet, it gave him another glimpse into his dads' life before they'd fought.

With a decisive shake of the head, Lex apparently abandoned the memories to their dust and asked for the now. "Tell me about the incident."

Gingerly, Conner sat down on the old couch. Then he wished he'd dusted it first. When was the last time Clark had been out here? He tried to ignore it, which was easy enough to do once he started thinking about the sinister guy. He gave Lex a report on the situation with as many details as he could remember.

When he'd finished, Lex was frowning. "This was yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you call me immediately?" Lex didn't lose the frown.

Conner shrugged. "I didn't know they were related. I mean the reporter guy---"

"He wasn't a reporter."

"The non-reporter guy then. He wasn't really anything. I mean, he was weird and strange, but when I met him, it wasn't like yesterday. The guy today, er, yesterday, well, he was ...." Conner hated to say it, but there wasn't really a better word. "He was menacing. I mean, he wasn't -- he didn't _do_ anything, but he just... it was like a knife on my nerves while he was watching us."

"Fingernails on a chalkboard," Lex murmured.

Conner looked at him blankly.

Lex rolled his eyes. "Never mind, before your time." He thought for a moment, then went on seriously, "The difference is that he didn't care about you before. When he came to the restaurant, you were only the medium of exchange, you weren't the focus of his attention. He knew about you, but he didn't care about you. You were only the means to an end.

"Now, though... Now you've caught his attention. Now he's interested in _you_. He's curious. He wants to know how to use you and so he's studying you.

"Even back when this first started, this was only a distraction, something to amuse himself between his long-term plans. Now, though, now he knows I care, and now you're something more than just a tool."

Lex fell silent, his face shuttered, his hand on the desk trembling slightly.

"Um, DT," Conner didn't want to say 'bull', however, "they were two different people, not the same person." He knew that. "I x-rayed them. There wasn't any disguises. They were different ages, different sizes, they smelled differently...." Conner trailed off. Now that he thought about it, they did kind of move similarly.

Lex tossed him a manila envelope.

Conner opened it and brought out picture after picture of different people. He studied and sorted through them. One of them he handed back to Lex. It wasn't his guy, but it was close -- an older relative, maybe. Except that hadn't been what Lex was hinting at.

"Shape-shifter?" Conner stared at the photo of the non-reporter guy, obviously from surveillance at the restaurant. Where from the meeting in the restroom, Conner hadn't seen anything menacing about him, in this photo, he was staring at the surveillance camera, lips drawn back from his teeth in a mockery of a grin, and a mocking tilt to his body and head. It was creepy, and Conner shivered.

"No," Lex said. He didn't add anything else.

Conner flipped through the pictures again. They were all ages and races, however they were all men, and they were all recognizable as men, even the youngest ones. That was the only thing they had in common. Kon knew Lex was trying to say they were the same person, but he couldn't see it if they weren't shapeshifters. He played on a wild guess. "Clones?"

Lex shrugged, lifting one shoulder and dropping it.

"Like me," Conner said softly, his hand on the picture of one of the young men. Grown in test tubes, all of them, him and his brothers together in lines in the center.

Lex frowned. "You're not a clone."

Conner blinked, "Yes I am." That was a weird thing for Lex to say. "I'm a clone of you and Dad."

"Think about that statement for a moment," Lex said, exasperation in his voice. "Clones are identical DNA replicates of an original subject. You are a product of two mixed sets of DNA, just like the rest of us." He paused and then said judiciously, "Not that there's anything wrong with clones if they're allowed to grow and develop normally in a regular home. You're just not one."

It was impossible for Conner to wrap his mind around that, though what Lex said was technically true. "They all say I am!"

"They all thought you were! They still think you are!" Lex was definitely exasperated. "When you first came on the scene, nobody had any idea you weren't Clark's direct clone. _Clark_ thought you were his clone. I thought you were too. Most of the Justice League still thinks you are. The fact that you've got equal amounts of my DNA is a closely held secret between eight of them out there, and six of my people. Nobody else, except the scientist who designed your genes and the person who ordered him or her to knows."

Conner feared he was gaping in an unflattering matter. He was a clone. Wasn't he? If he wasn't, then what was he?

"You're our son," Lex's voice dropped down, soft and gentle. "You're my son, and you're Clark's son. That hasn't changed, that won't ever change."

Apparently Conner had said his last thought out-loud. He was supposed to have stopped doing that. He supposed as long as he had his fathers, it didn't really matter what else he was, and there was no mistaking the love in Lex's voice.

Conner cleared his throat from all the emotion in it, and turned back to the first conversation. "The scientists are dead. They were blown up in the lab." He'd had to identify some of what was left, just to make sure they were all there.

Lex shook his head. "The technicians who were entrusted with your growth and development, the ones who guided your training and picked how to train you, those people were killed, and the world is better for them not being in it anymore.

"However, the genetic master who would have been the one to separate the strands of DNA, to twine together two completely unrelated cells, to select the genetic components in the RNA, to create viable embryos... that person, the enemy would never kill. He needs him, or her, too much. There are geniuses and artists in the world, who love their work and their work alone and don't care about anything except being given the resources to perform. When you find such a person, you keep them separate, segregated, somewhere where you can feed their obsession and their art, but you do not expose them to danger."

Conner was shivering now in fear. "The enemy?"

"I'm sorry, Conner, but your enemy is mine. He was not originally looking to create a Superman clone, but when he stumbled over it, he took the opportunity." Lex kept his gaze steady on Conner. "He is not dead." His gaze suddenly skittered away. "Well, not exactly dead. But he didn't die in the building and he's still active. You have now met him twice."

Not exactly dead? What the hell did that mean? "The guy in the restaurant, the guy at the coffee shop... but how are they the same? If it's not shape-shifting..."

"They are different bodies. A lot of the same techniques were used in your development as was used in theirs." Lex nodded at the photos. "Clones at the base, yes, from a variety of people. Speed grown to whatever age was desired. However..." Lex paused, shifted his legs in the chair, then continued. "You remember your implanted memories that are your knowledge base?"

Conner blanched, instantly knowing and horrified. "They were all written with the same personality. They don't have one of their own."

Lex nodded. "He's been using this technique for many years. The memory bath used for yours is an adaptation of the one he uses for himself. There is a central memory, a main person, and every one of his bodies regularly immerses to keep him, all of him, up to date."

"He's died. He's died before, because he doesn't care about his bodies. He's got more. Is he like a hive monster?"

With a snort, Lex murmured, "I should call him that the next time we meet. No, they are separate, but they don't usually diverge from the main plan or personality because he's been doing this so long that he, every one of him, knows there are more of him to carry on. They don't care about being individual, because to them, they are the same." Lex stood up and walked to the loft window, looking out. "I don't even know if his original form still exists."

Then, so soft that Conner could barely hear him, "I have killed him three times myself, and I have seen him die five other times. And that was before he started using other bodies. At that point, he was primarily cloning himself."

The hair on Conner's neck was standing up. "Your father. You're talking about your father, Lionel Luthor."

Lex turned back, the light outside framing his body and washing out his features. "Yes."

Even with all he had just been told and what he had just guessed, Conner couldn't help his next words. "But he's dead!"

Instead of being scornful or pointing out the previous conversation, Lex simply again said, "Yes." The word was clipped and short, sorrow and anger in the single syllable.

"You've killed him," Conner whispered in horror, absorbing but barely processing.

"As he has me, several times," Lex said wryly, turning back around and moving out of the light into the darker shadows.

Conner blinked and then blinked again. "You clone yourself?"

"No!" Lex's denial was fierce and harsh, a rejection of the method and completely believable to Conner. "I live through my mutation. Father hadn't anticipated it, and it drives him crazy for he cannot replicate it. Trying to blow me up is one of his favorite current methods as he figures if I am blown to single cells, they will not put themselves back together." Lex held up his right hand and wiggled the fingers.

Conner gulped at that implication. Then he had to back up again, "You killed him."

"I made one of the deaths so public that he couldn't possibly come waltzing back in and take the company again, claiming his death was just a lie, such as he did when the liver cancer had taken him," Lex reflected. "I believe that was one of the clones, dying early of degeneration. I mourned him then, not knowing, and wanted my father back. I should have known better than to have made such a wish. That was after the third or fourth time he'd tried to kill me, but I still didn't know."

"Why would he want to do that?" Conner was completely bewildered.

Lex let one of his shoulders raise then drop. "To gain a better heir. His first experiments were when I was in my teens. He tried to raise a new Julian, my little brother, at least four times I know of. The best one he ever had was an early Julian clone he named Lucas and let grow at a natural rate. He killed Lucas when he turned out not to be what he wanted. Then he decided he would try instead directly with me and also was forced to turn to accelerated growths, which weren't stable for a long time."

Conner shook his head. "I thought you said you couldn't be cloned."

"With any stability. My clones usually live for a few months before degenerating horribly." Lex smiled, a flat bitter line. "It really doesn't help my reputation when one of them is out running around."

"So all that about your being a villain---" Conner started with some hope.

Lex snorted, cutting off that line. "Not all of it. I have done plenty myself and more that you haven't heard of." He studied Conner for a moment, "Weren't you just horrified a moment ago to hear me admit that I have killed my father?"

Well, yes, but... Kon lifted his chin. "I have killed my brothers."

"My father killed your brothers," Lex spat out, pacing the length of the desk. "You were under the conditioning, and the responsibility lies with him alone."

Everybody could say it as many times as they wanted, yet Conner still felt the guilt in his heart. In a little bit better control now, he stood up from the couch and crossed to the desk chair. "In order. Tell me what your father did, starting from the beginning."

Lex paused, watching Conner settle in the chair, then he quirked a slight grin and went to the couch. He ran a hand along the back as if thinking about something else, then he winced at the dust on his hand. After looking around and not seeing anything better, Lex shrugged and sat down, sprawling on the couch in a way that suggested he had done this often before, if not recently.

"I don't know it all. I've pieced together a lot, but a lot of it is guesses and suppositions from looking back over the years with what I do know now. It all makes sense, in a horrifying sort of manner, yet it's not necessarily the complete truth."

Conner nodded. He would still take it.

"Besides the early Julian clone, my brother Lucas, the next cloning experiment I was aware of was a girl named Emily, a dead classmate of Lana's. I don't know how long Father had been working with her, but one version escaped and Clark tracked her down. She was unstable, having the accelerated growth, and also a version of the memories, though they were made from her own."

After he described the lab and the disappearance of Emily, Lex continued to verbally put the pieces in place, his voice mostly emotionless but every now and again with a crack of a shudder or almost a sob, the pain leaking through.

Conner had thought what he had been through was the epitome of evil. This was worse. So much worse because for most of it, Lex had been alone and didn't know what was happening. At least Conner had always known he and the others were being conditioned and they had had each other.

"Grandma hates you," Conner observed at one point, still slightly shocked about that.

Lex shrugged, but it didn't mask the sadness on his face. "Yes. She loved one of my father's clones, one that to all appearances was Father himself. I think it was an early one, and not a complete one, but Father saw a use for it. That was one of the few times Dad let a clone go out that didn't have all of his memories." Lex paused, "The only time, actually, that I know of. The clone was a good man, somehow not having the right memories, or didn't have something else that made my dad do the things he did. The clone successfully wooed and won both Martha and Clark, as they accepted him into their lives and their homes without a second thought. Almost a new husband and a second dad." Lex turned his face away, then added wistfully, "I almost wished that it was my father as well, and that I could have him instead of the original, except that he also came with a preprogrammed hatred for me and belief in my evil deeds. An early conditioning experiment, perhaps."

"What happened to him?" Conner asked, his heart aching for the lonely pain in his dad's voice.

"Dad killed him, of course. Once he'd done his job of poisoning everybody and repairing the damage Lionel had previously done to his reputation, then the clone was too dangerous to let live. I also suspect he might have found out about Father somehow. He did, after all, have Dad's intelligence. That's when I knew I had to kill my father, and make it a very public death. He could have had all your family's secrets, with his charm unfettered by insanity and your grandmother's love."

And there Lex went again, with the protection despite the pain.

"Why didn't you _tell_ anybody," Conner burst out, overcome with the horror of how much Lex had tried to do on his own.

"Who would I tell?" Lex replied, simply. "I was, by that time, already a villain. If I'd known earlier... but I hadn't. The asylum had put a gulf between me and your dad, and with that label already officially on me... anything I would say would have landed me back there again. I was insane, I was violent, I was experimenting with meteor rocks, I was not to be trusted. Who would trust me? Who could I tell? The investigators I hired inevitably ended up dead after awhile, or were bought out and in Lionel's pay instead of mine. Who would I kill next, by telling them?"

"You could have told Dad!" Conner believed this wholeheartedly.

Lex shook his head. "We were enemies. He wouldn't have believed me, or even if he believed part of it, he would have thought it merely something to cover up what else I was doing." Lex smiled bitterly. "I was always adept at the half-truths."

"Isn't a partial belief better than none?"

Lex laughed softly. "Depends on who you ask." He was silent for a moment. "Father knew about kryptonite long before I did. My experiments only followed upon his. Don't ever think that Lionel wouldn't hesitate to use it. The only reason he hasn't so far..." Lex hesitated.

Intuitively, Conner dug straight in to the bitter truth. "You made a bargain with him," he said flatly.

"Yes," Lex admitted. "He would leave the Kents alone, and the fight between us would be ours alone, no others involved."

"Except for all the people killed between your struggles."

Lex winced.

"You could have told the Justice League. They would have done something and protected Dad."

Lex sat up, his whole posture suddenly on alert. "Don't. Don't ever tell them. Promise me this, Conner, do not tell the Justice League."

Conner was taken aback by the complete earnestness and fear combined in Lex's voice. Instead of answering, he tried to puzzle out why Lex would ask that. Then he remembered. "There is a spy."

Lex relaxed a little, leaning into the couch again. "Yes. The spy is only used for things against me, but a word, a single word about Lionel and his activities... Lionel will know, and he will take action that we don't ever want to see. He will do anything. Right now, he only wants me and LexCorp, but if that focus is taken off... who knows what he will go after next."

It was starting to penetrate, through all the massive information dump and layers of things to absorb and process, that Conner had a slightly more direct stake in this than just listening. "But he's after me," Conner whispered.

Lex shivered and then got up from the chair and knelt in front of Conner. "My fault. My fault, again. I'm sorry. I should never have come into your life. I thought... but I was wrong, and I'm sorry."

"Oh, geez, Dad Two!" Conner also slipped off the chair and hugged his dad, "Don't say that! Don't. I want you in my life and I don't want you to stay out of it, ever. Otherwise I would be completely alone now. He was already in my life; he had _made_ me! Your staying away would only have left me ignorant and unable to know why."

Lex dipped his head onto Conner's shoulder. "That's why I'm telling you. He wasn't looking for a Superman clone -- he was trying to use the extra DNA to stabilize _my_ clones, but once he knew what he had... I don't think he could resist playing with it. And now more children are dead."

Conner's breath drew in at the 'more children'. His brothers and he weren't the first. Just the first of the hybrid line. And now that Lionel knew that Conner was a stable clone... or not a clone, but stable anyhow... "He's going to try it again."

"Yes," Lex shuddered, the feel of it going through Conner's whole body. "I've been trying to shut down any resources he can use to build another laboratory, but..." Lex pulled himself out of Conner's embrace and stood up, pacing towards the window.

"I'm trying. I'm trying to protect you with everything I have. I would destroy everything to keep you safe, I would tear out my eyes and give them to him if I thought it would keep you safe, but it won't. He is aware now, and he is looking at you and I. Can't. Stop. Him." Lex slammed a fist into the wooden paneling next to the window.

Conner made a noise as the blood ran down Lex's hand, but he didn't move.

"I want to be able to look you in the eyes and tell you it will be okay, and be able to fulfill that promise. I would destroy every version of my father I could find, if it could keep you from the horrors of what he might do. I am your father, I should be able to protect you -- it's what parents do for their children!"

Lex seemed to be completely unaware of the irony in his declaration of the protection of parents while at the same time talking about how _his_ father was trying to kill them. Conner shuddered.

It was obvious that Lex meant everything he said, including the part about destroying Lionel completely. With a sudden sharp pang in his heart, Conner realized how the rest of the League could think Lex a villain, how Clark could fear him. Lex's love was the unfettered sort. He truly would stop at nothing. Most people had restraints on what they would do. Clark loved Conner just as much as Lex did, yet Clark would not destroy the world just to protect Conner, nor would Conner want him to. Lex, though... Lex had no restraints. If he thought it best, he would do so.

It was scary, it was terrifying. It was also incredible. Somebody loved him that much. Conner had been raised as a pawn and a tool to be used against Lex. Instead, Lex would die for him, and Lex would kill for him. There was no logic there. Conner sucked in his breath and tried not to feel happy about it.

"I can't protect you," Lex whispered, his bloody hand resting now on the wood, his head bowed down. "Experience has shown me over the years that I can't defeat my father. I can only keep a step ahead of him, if that. Sometimes I don't think I'm ahead of him at all, sometimes I think he's only playing one long cat and mouse game with me and he hasn't yet tired of it to completely defeat me.

"He is better than me, and I can't protect you."

Conner had never heard defeat in his father's voice before.

"No!" Conner shot up off the floor and hovered a few feet over it before he forced himself back down. He approached Lex but didn't try touching him again, though he longed to. "No," he repeated softer. "He's not going to win. We won't let him! You're not alone now, and we'll work together. We're going to face him together, you, me, and Dad, and we'll defeat him together.

"Maybe he's smart. Maybe he's wily. Maybe he's willing to do things we will not. But he's still only a man, or several men, and we've defeated worse before." Conner gave a shaky laugh, "Dad is coming back right now from defeating an entire _world_ of enemies. We can take care of this one.

"You've warned me. Now I know. Now I know what we face, and I'm not going to take the information and disappear. We're going to put everything we know together, and we're going to work on the problem together, and we will get through it, together."

Lex watched Conner through the speech without any attempt to say anything. Conner had only ever seen eyes like that when somebody was crying. Lex's eyes, though, were bone dry.

"I want to protect you," Lex said.

"You will," Conner promised him. "You and Dad will. We know now, and he won't be able to do anything against the three of us."

Lex's mouth turned up in another non-smile. "First, you will have to persuade your dad that this is not just another lie."

Conner snorted. "You could have told him. He would have believed you."

"Perhaps," Lex finally said. "However, then the world would be dead. He would be dead. I don't know that even now that it is safe. I don't know that you are safe. It is a risk, to tell you now, but it is a greater one not to. If I die, you will be completely vulnerable without knowing about him."

Lex suddenly laughed without humor, "And speaking of which. If you ever run into a me whose memories only date to my stint in the asylum... be careful."

"He has a copy of your memories?" Conner squeaked.

"Only to that point. He's tried to trick me into giving him a more updated version, but of that particular trap I am now very wary of."

Conner was running now on a combination of logic and insight, instinct ruling what connections he should be making. "You've had to kill yourself before."

"I've had to kill my brothers," Lex corrected, a hitch in his voice. "I've never wanted to. But Dad..."

Finally, Lex broke. First a small sob, then another, and then the tears were pouring down his face.

Conner lurched forward, gripping his dad in a tight hug, trying not to break him, remembering that he was just human. A human who had been so very very alone over the years. Conner's gift of loving parents was a true miracle that not everybody else had been granted. He would do all in his power to return that gift now, and love his father just as much as his dad loved him.

... ... ...

Ten days later, when Clark and the others returned to Earth, Conner celebrated with the rest of the League and clung tightly to his dad, glad he was back safe and sound.

In their apartment that night, however, Conner looked at his father soberly. "Dad. We have to talk."  


* * *

  


END

**Author's Note:**

> Beta by Ronda and Sue. Cross-posted to [my livejournal](http://alatrific.livejournal.com/33898.html).
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> Re: Lex infertile, sperm other organism that body attacks. My thinking there is that sperm are basically separate organisms that live independently of the body that they're in, so therefore, they are foreign matter, doesn't matter what DNA parts they actually contain - they're not technically part of the body. They are produced by the body, but once there they are completely separate of the body and they can live outside of the body (for a few days!) - they're not tied directly to the body nor do they have a specific function within the body to maintain the body (like red blood cells). Like viruses, basically, though they cannot reproduce separately.
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> Ronda actually did some research after I explained and confirmed my thinking. One of the functions of Sertoli cells is to protect spermatids from the immune system of the male.
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> Quote (I think from wiki): _The tight junctions of Sertoli cells form the blood-testis barrier, a structure that partitions the interstitial blood compartment of the testis from the adluminal compartment of the seminiferous tubules. Because of the apical progression of the spermatogonia, the tight junctions must be dynamically reformed and broken to allow the immunoidentical spermatogonia to cross through the blood-testis barrier so they can become immunologically unique. Sertoli cells control the entry and exit of nutrients, hormones and other chemicals into the tubules of the testis as well as make the adluminal compartment an immune-privileged site._
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> There's actually less science for the hair-loss, but that's canon and so I wiggled it in. ^^


End file.
